CCU PGA wins Carolinas Cup
Coastal Carolina University’s PGA Golf Management program hosted and won the Carolinas Cup at the General James Hackler Golf Course on April 1-2, 2017. The Carolinas Cup is a tournament with teams participating from all over the Southeast, which included teams from Clemson University, Campbell University, Methodist University, University of Maryland at Eastern Shore and N.C. State.
Coastal’s PGA Golf Management program is one of 18 programs in the United States accredited by the PGA of America and is housed in the E. Craig Wall Sr. College of Business Administration. The Carolinas Cup is a tremendous learning experience for the students, giving them the opportunity to be involved in the organization and execution of a golf tournament. The Carolinas Cup also gives students the opportunity to play competitive golf and compete with other PGM university students. Coastal Carolina’s PGM program fired a two-day, six-player team score of 883 over second-place Campbell.
Coastal PGA students qualify to play the tournaments by playing a series of qualifying rounds. The 2017 CCU’s Carolinas Cup team included Tyler Gracon (marketing), who took medalist honors by firing a 68 and 77 for a 145.
“It’s always a pleasure and a great time playing with my fellow students, but to perform like I did when needed, especially against other schools, made it that much better,” Gracon said. “It definitely was one of the highlights of my last semester here at Coastal.
The rest of the PGA students finished as follows: Jake Vaiknoras (accounting) and Ross Seaman (management) both shot 146 with Jay Newcomb (management) trailing one point behind at 147. Morgan Deneen (marketing) shot 148 while Eric Schroeder (management) shot 153. Jake Kramer (management) shot 159 and Ian Marr (management) rounded the Coastal team off with 157.
Coastal’s PGA Golf Management program also participated in the Director’s Cup, a tournament between CCU and Clemson University. The Director’s Cup is in a Ryder Cup-style format with team match play, best ball, and individual match play. Another tournament the PGA program participates in is the Jones Cup, the national PGM championship held annually in Florida.